The misconception about lighting and safety

"The Tatort (a German crime TV show) is actually to blame, " sighs Daniel Gliedner. As a lighting consultant at Our Nature Park, he has dedicated his professional life to the fight against excessive, unnecessary and simply bad lighting. It is, as he says himself, a challenge. Light has been a symbol of safety since prehistoric times, literally and metaphorically. It gave the Age of Enlightenment its name "Lumières" and the invention of the light bulb by Thomas Edison in 1880 is probably one of the most important achievements of mankind, which has made us independent of the natural day-night rhythm. Today, however, light is one thing above all: comparatively cheap.

What is cheap is often used a little too generously – and ironically becomes much more expensive than it needs to be. "Since the invention of the light bulb, there has really only ever been one direction: more efficient and more lighting, " says the lighting consultant, summarising the past 140 years since Edison's brainwave. But instead of benefiting from greater efficiency to reduce consumption, it was increased even further. Today, almost everything glows with efficient LED light – streets and bridges, house walls and advertising posters, car parks and homes. The result: on light pollution maps, urban centres glow like rave parties. Luxembourg City is illuminated non-stop with the equivalent of eight full moons. There are seven in Esch-Alzette and five in Pétange. It is darkest in Wahl, with less than one full moon, followed by Grosbous and Bauschleiden.